Thursday, September 18, 2008

conflict and twist

Hi,

I wish I would find the time to do this more regularly. But the days have but 24 hours and I would need many more to get everything done. I had to catch up with all the house work that I didn't do when I was ill and I'm still not well enough to do it any faster.

Also I need to finish my historical novel by the end of this month because my friend will come to criticize. If I don't manage to get enough words written down she'll have nothing to do ;-)

Also, I started planning a new project that keeps me occupied. I might try to write it during the NaNoWriMo. If you haven't heard of it, it is a crazy scheme to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. To succeed my plot needs to be very well prepared or I will run into dead ends. I am not the organic kind of writer who just sits down and starts writing with most of the story still in the mist. I need to know where my story will take me. Of course, I am not overplanning either because then I would loose the fun in writing the story. Sometimes it is hard to find the right balance. Well, I got most of the plot nailed down (32 scenes with an average planned length of 2500 words should be enough) and all that's left to do is the basic research of times and places. That shouldn't take too long since it is not a historical novel. It'll be fun writing something else again for a change.

What I just learned is that for every scene I need conflict that drives the story forward. I also need many twists - especially since I am writing YA this time. Young readers usually are rather annoyed if the story isn't interesting enough. So I am learning trying this new technique I learned from Holly Lisles How to Think Sideways course.

If you are dreaming of a career in writing I can heartily recommend this course. I learned so many things from it.

Friends

About Me

Katharina Gerlach was born in Germany in 1968. She and her three
younger brothers grew up in the middle of a forest in the heart of the
Luneburgian Heather. After romping through the forest with imagination
as her guide, the tomboy learned to read and disappeared into magical
adventures, past times or eerie fairytale woods.

She didn’t stop at reading. During her training as a landscape
gardener, she wrote her first novel, a manuscript full of a beginner’s
mistakes. Fortunately, she found books on Creative Writing and soon her
stories improved. For a while, reality interfered with her writing but
after finishing a degree in forestry and a PhD in Science she returned
to her vocation. She likes to write Fantasy, Science Fiction and
Historical Novels for all age groups.

At present, she is writing at her next project in a small house near
Hildesheim, Germany, where she lives with her husband, three children
and a dog. Katharina Gerlach has had various short stories published in
Germany as well as a non-fiction e-book in US-Fantasy author Holly
Lisle’s “The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About …” series.